Strange but true, Keith Dewey, the founder of Fair Wind Vermont, which opposes opposition to industrial wind plants, wrote an essay arguing that the Nazi flag is considered to be ugly because of "intellectual" associations (which presumably is good, though he isn't quite clear on the point), and that for the same reason industrial wind plants are opposed as ugly (which judgement, he says, is bad). He neglects to say why it's good to think the Nazi flag is ugly even though it isn't (he says) and why it's bad to think industrial wind plants are ugly even though they aren't, either (he says). Since he asserts that both are not ugly, perhaps he believes both judgements to be bad, since they aren't purely aesthetic (by the criteria of his architecturally trained eye).
Because he undercuts his own argument for the pure beauty of wind towers by asserting that they symbolize responsible and progressive stewardship of the planet, which is why (intellectually) they are beautiful. So unless he really believes that the Nazi flag ought to be admired because it is well designed, then we must also apply only intellectual criteria to judging wind turbines. Opponents have concluded from their research that wind turbines are ugly because they are harmful and of no value . . . click on any of the wind links in the sidebar to read the many reasons industrial wind plants are a sham. If we are right to see the Nazi flag as ugly — because of what it symbolizes — then we are also right in seeing industrial wind plants as ugly.
In his attempt to belittle opponents of industrial wind, Dewey obviously didn't think this through. That's hardly surprising, though: Proponents of large-scale wind invariably operate on the most superficial level of salesmen and meretricious consultants. Their words are not derived but are designed to distract from actual thought.
[Dewey's article appeared in the April 2004 newsletter of the Vermont chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The newsletter has been removed from the AIA-VT web site but is available here.]
